Manufacture of X-ray apparatus



Aug. 6, 1957 E. w. VAUGHN ETAL.

MANUFACTURE OF X-RAY APPARATUS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug. 29, 1955 Aug.6, 1957 AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA US ed Aug; 29, 1955 Fig.5.

WITNESSES NNNNNNN RS Hur' rrrrrrrrr er United States MANUFACTURE OFX-RAY APPARATUS Application August 29, 1955, Serial No. 531,988

Claims. (Cl. 154-1) The present invention relates to the manufacture ofX-ray apparatus and more particularly relates to the method andapparatus for the manufacture of focused X-ray diaphragms or Bucky grid.

It is. an object of the present invention to provide improved X-raydiaphragms, and an improved method and apparatus for manufacturing suchX-ray diaphragms.

It is another object of this invention to provide improved focused X-raydiaphragms or Bucky grids.

It is a further object to provide an improved method of making X-raydiaphragms using the inherent characteristics of the material employedto make the diaphragms to facilitate their manufacture. It .isadifferent object to provide an improvedmethod formaking X-raydiaphragms such that by differential treatment of the materials employedbetter spacing and alignment of the diphragm elements or portions willresult.

,It is an additional object to provide an improved focused X-ray grid ordiaphragm, with the focal length of the grid being predetermined asdesired.

These and other objects of the present invention will be apparent uponreading the following description taken in connection with the drawingsin which:

Figure l is .a schematic diagram showing the method and apparatusemployed in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a modification of a portion of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 illustrates in more detail a portion of Fig. l;

Fig. 4 illustrates the shaping or folding of the strips.

of X-ray pervious and impervious materials in accordance with theinvention; 1 Fig. 5 illustrates the compressed sandwich structureincluding the folds of X-ray pervious and X-ray impervious materials;and

Fig. 6 shows a completed X-ray diaphragm and its manner of operation inaccordance with the present inw vention. In Fig. 1 there is shown themethod and apparatus for the manufacture of focused X-ray diaphragms orBucky grids. Initially, continuous strips or sheets 10 and 12 of X-raytransparent or pervious material such as paper are supplied by a pair ofrolls 14 and 16. An intermediate sheet 18 of X-ray opaque or imperviousmaterial such as lead is supplied from .a roll 20 which is positionedbetween the other rolls 14 and 16. The strips or X-ray transparentmaterial 10 and 12 and the strip of X-ray opaque material 18 shown inFig. l are supplied to positioning means comprising a pair ofcompression rollers 22 and 24 which compress the outer sheets oftransparent material 10 and 12 against the inner sheet 18 such thatthese sheets or strips are contiguous to each other. Adhesive materialmay be provided between the first sheet 10 of transparent material andthe sheet 18 of X-ray opaque material by means of a suitably positionedadhesive supply member 26. Similarly, adhesive material may be providedbetween the sheet 18 of X-ray opaque material and the sheet 12 of X-raytransparent material by a second adhesive supply member 28. Thepositioning rollers 22 and 24 position the sheets of X-ray opaquematerial and X-ray transparent material such that they are substantiallycontiguous in position. The latter contiguous sheets are then passedbetween a pair of shaping or forming members 30 and 32 which corrugateor pleat the contiguous sheets of X-ray opaque material and X-raytransparent material to form a multiple number of pleated folds whichare doubled back as shown in Fig. 1. The shaping wheel 30 includes ashaping member 31 and a resilient insert member 33; The shaping wheel 32includes a shaping member 35 and a resilient insert section 37. Theshaping member 31 is illustrated as being smaller in size than theshaping member 35 such that it effectively folds the sheets of X-rayopaque material and Xray transparent material on a fold having a smallerradius than do the folds formed by the shaping member 35. In accordancewith the present invention, the shaping members 31 and 35 may be givenany desired predetermined form to provide the desired folding orpleating operation of the contiguous sheets or strips of .X-ray opaqueand X-ray transparent material which are passed between the shapingwheels 30 and 32.

Suitable support or holder members 34 are positioned to receive thecorrugated or pleated strips of material as they are fed away from thepair of shaping wheels 30 and 32. Suitable adhesive supplying nozzles 36and 38 may be provided to apply adhesive between the respective folds ofthe corrugated sheets. In this respect the nozzle 38 or an additionallyprovided nozzle maybe operative to supply a filler material between thelarger radius folds of the corrugated or pleated strips. A conveyor orlike member 39 is provided to support .and form a sandwich or compressedstructure having the arcuate shape of the conveyor member 39. Theconveyor or like member 39 compresses the corrugated or pleated stripsagainst a stop member 42. The compressed sandwich structure may bethought of as having an intermediate portion 44 where the strip sectionsare substantially radial relative to each other and having outer foldportions 46 and 48 where the strip sections are folded over or bent backon themselves as shown. The outer fold portions 46 may have a smaller orlarger fold radius than the outer fold portions 48 due to the differencein the shape of the shaping members 31 and 35 on the respective shapingwheels 30 and 32.

A suitable cutting member 5i may be provided to cut the compressedsandwich structure into a finite diaphragm structure or section afterwhich the stop member 42 may be removed from the path of the diaphragmsection such that it can move along to another conveyor member 40.

The diaphragm section may be held between end support or compressionmembers 49 and 51, and passed through any necessary subsequent treatmentoperations such as between a pair of machining or grinding members 54 toremove the outer fold portions 46 and 48 from the intermediate portion44 or any other desired portions of the diaphragm section to form afinite sandwich section having predetermined dimensions as desired.Additional support or conveyor members 52 and 56 may be provided, ifdesired.

It is to be understood that additional cutting members similar tocutting member 50 may be provided to determine the width of thediaphragm section as desired or the sheets or strips of X-ray opaque andX-ray transparent material as employed may have a predetermined widthcorresponding to the desired width of the diaphragm section.

In Fig. 2 there is shown a modification of the supply rollers forsupplying sheets of X-ray transparent and X-ray opaque material to thecombination rollers 22 and 24. In Fig. 2 there is. illustrated twostrips of X-ray opaque material 5'3 and as which are supplied fromsupply rolls 62 and 64. An intermediate sheet of X-ray transparentmaterial 66 is supplied from roller 68. The method of manufacture andapparatus following the compression rollers 22 and 24 would be similarto that shown in Fig. 1 following the corresponding combination rollers.

In Fig. 3 there is shown the compressed sandwich structure having anarcuate shape corresponding to the arcuate shape of the conveyor member32 as shown in Fig. 1. Since the corrugated or pleated strips have beencompressed between the curved or arcuate shaped conveyor 39 and the form41, the strip sections between the folds are substantially radial inposition relative to each other with a focal length corresponding to theradius of curvature of the conveyor 39. It is within the teachings ofthe present invention to vary or change the curvature of the conveyor 39and associated form 41 to provide any desired focal length focussedX-ray grid section, and the support rollers 73 have been provided inthis respect.

If a planar or flat focused diaphragm is desired, the arcuate shapedsandwich structure can be machined or formed along suitable lines 7% and72, such that the outer fold portions 46 and 48 respectively areremoved. The resultant sandwich structure can be out along the lines 74and 76 to provide a finite diaphragm section having predetermineddimensions and which is fiat in shape and focused as desirable for afocused X-ray diaphragm or grid. In addition, the latter finitediaphragm section can be sawed or cut into a plurality of thinner planarsections to make a plurality of such grids, if desired.

In Fig. 4 there is shown in greater detail the resultant shaping of thecontiguous strips of X-ray opaque and X-ray transparent material due tothe operation of the shaping wheels 30 and 32. The smaller radius whichcan be varied in shape practically from a sharp crease as illustrated toany desired dimension is provided by the shaping member 31 of theshaping wheel 30. The larger radius is provided by the shaping member35.

In Fig. 5 there is shown the compressed sandwich structure including thefiller material 19, if desired, positioned between the strip sectionsformed by the larger radius folds.

In Fig. 6 there is shown the completed X-ray grid or diaphragm 78 asmanufactured in accordance with the method and apparatus shown in Fig. lwith an X-ray tube 80 shown in operative position relative to thediaphragm 78 and between the object or patient 82 to be X-rayed and thefilm or like member 34 for responding to the X-rays.

In the operation of the apparatus shown in Fig. l, the sheets 10 and 12of X-ray transparent material are fed with the intermediate sheet 18 ofX-ray opaque material between the pair of compression rollers 22 and 24which position these sheets contiguous to each other. Subsequently, thecontiguous sheets are passed between the shaping wheels 30 and 32 whichcorrugate or pleat the contiguously positioned sheets such that theshaping member 31 of the shaping wheel 30 in conjunction with theresilient section 37 of the shaping wheel 32 provides a first radiusfold or bend in the contiguous strips and the shaping member 35 of theshaping wheel 32 in conjunction with the resilient section 33 of theshaping wheel 30 provides a second and larger radius fold or bend in thecontiguous strip material. The shaping wheels 36 and 32 operating inconjunction with the conveyor member 39 compress the corrugated orpleated strips into a terial 53 and X-ray pervious material 51. ThisX-ray diaphragm is focused in nature and is operative with an X-raysource as shown in Fig. 6 which is preferably po sitioned atsubstantially the radial center of the arcuate shape of the conveyor 39as shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 2 illustrates the modifications of the strip material arrangementwhich may be provided as desired. Fig. 4 illustrates the shapingoperation of the shaping wheels 30 and 32 and Figs. 3 and 5 illustratethe operation of the conveyor member 39 and its associated form member41 in combination with the stop member 42 to provide a compressedsandwich structure having an arcuate shape with a curvature radiuscorresponding to the desired focal length of the final X-ray diaphragmor grid.

Although specific embodiments of the present invention have been shownand described, it is to be understood that still further modificationsthereof may be made with out departing from the spirit and scope of theinvention; in this respect the final X-ray diaphragm or grid forpractical use may require a support frame to protect it from damage anddistortion, and further may require face sheets of X-ray transparentmaterial such as a suitable plastic or aluminum.

We claim as our invention:

1. In a method of making an X-ray diaphragm comprising alternate stripsections of X-ray transparent material and X-ray opaque material, thesteps of positioning a strip of the first material contiguous to a stripof the second material, corrugating the contiguous strips of said firstand second materials to form a pleated first structure having alternatefirst and second folds, with said first fold having a smaller radiusthan said second fold, and compressing said pleated structure into asandwich structure having an arcuate shape.

2. The method of making an X-ray diaphragm including alternate sectionsof X-ray transparent material and X-ray opaque material comprising thesteps of positioning' a strip of the first material contiguous to astrip of the second material, pleating said contiguous strips to form apleated first structure having alternate first and second folds, witheach of said first folds havinga smaller radius than each of the secondfolds, and compressing said pleated structure into a second sandwichstructure having an arcuate shape.

3. The method of claim 1 characterized by the step of inserting a fillermaterial into each of the second folds.

4. In apparatus for making an X-ray diaphragm including alternate stripsections, of X-ray pervious first material and X-ray impervious secondmaterial, the com bination of a positioning member for positioning astrip of the first material contiguous to a strip of the secondmaterial, a pleating member for forming the contiguous strips of thesaid first and second material into a pleated first structure havingfirst folds and second folds, each of the first and second folds havinga radius, with the radius of the first folds being smaller than theradius of the second folds, and a compression member for compressing thepleated first structure into a sandwiched second structure, with thepleating member being positioned between the positioning member and thecompression member.

5. The apparatus as claimed in claim 4, with a filler supply memberpositioned between the pleating member and the compression member forsupplying a filler material into each of the second folds.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,476,048 Bucky Dec. 4, 1923 2,133,385 Freeman Oct. 18, 1938 FOREIGNPATENTS 637,654 Germany Nov. 2, 19 3 6

